System and Method for Generating Musical Tracks Within a Continuously Looping Recording Session
An apparatus for creating a musical composition comprising an audio interface, an audio converter and a live looping recording session is disclosed. The audio interface operably receives audio from an input device and outputs audio to an audio output device. The audio converter module is operably connected to the audio interface to convert audio received via the audio interface into an audio track. The recording session module is configured to repeatedly playback a live loop that includes at least a portion of a first audio track, and to add at least a portion of a second audio track to the live loop during repeated playback. The first audio track may be a pre-existing track stored in a data storage medium. The recording session module may be configured to add at least a portion of a third audio track to the live loop during playback, which may be automatically generated based on one or more musical criteria of the first or second tracks. The apparatus may include a user interface coupled to the recording session module to provide a visual representation illustrating the portion of the live loop that is being played. The audio converter module may include a track partitioner to divide at least one of the first and second audio tracks into one or more partitions, a quantizer that aligns audio with a predetermined beat, and a frequency detector to identify the pitch of one or more sounds leading to their storage as a morphology. A method is also provided.
1 . An apparatus for creating a musical composition comprising:
an audio interface operably receiving audio from an audio input device and outputting audio to an audio output device;
an audio converter module operably connected to the audio interface to convert audio received via the audio interface into an audio track; and
a recording session module configured to repeatedly play back a live loop that includes at least a portion of a first audio track, and to add at least a portion of a second audio track to the live loop during the repeated playback.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first audio track is a pre-existing track.
3 . The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the pre-existing track is a click track.
4 . The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the live loop is stored in a data storage medium, and the pre-existing track is a previously recorded live loop.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the recording session module is configured to add at least a portion of a third audio track to the live loop during playback.
6 . The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the third audio track is automatically generated based on one or more musical criteria of the first or second tracks.
7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein one of the first and second tracks is a percussion track.
8 . The apparatus of claim 1 further including a data storage medium that stores at least one of the live loop, the first audio track, and the second audio track.
9 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a user interface coupled to the recording session module, the user interface providing a visual representation illustrating the portion of the live loop that is being played.
10 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the audio converter module includes a track partitioner to divide at least one of the first and second audio tracks into one or more partitions, and wherein the live loop includes at least a subset of the one or more partitions.
11 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the audio converter further includes a quantizer that is configured to align audio in the least one of the first and second audio tracks in the one or more partitions with a predetermined beat.
12 . The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the audio converter further includes a frequency detector that is configured to identify a pitch of one or more sounds within each of the one or more partitions.
13 . The apparatus of claim 12 wherein each of the one or more partitions are stored as a morphology having information identifying the onset, pitch, and duration of one or more sounds in the partition.
14 . The apparatus of claim 13 where the audio converter module further includes a frequency converter to shift a frequency of the audio track based on one or more criteria.
15 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the audio converter module further includes an instrument converter configured to convert the audio track into one or more sounds having a timbre associated with a musical instrument.
16 . An method for creating a musical composition comprising:
identifying a first audio track;
repeatedly playing back a live loop that includes at least a portion of the first audio track; and
adding at least a portion of a second audio track to the live loop during the repeated playback.
17 . The method of claim 16 wherein identifying a first audio track includes obtaining a pre-existing track.
18 . The method of claim 16 wherein identifying a first audio track includes generating a click track.
19 . The method of claim 16 wherein the second audio track is automatically generated based on one or more criteria of the first audio track.
20 . The method of claim 16 wherein one of the first and second tracks is a percussion track.
21 . The method of claim 16 further including storing at least one of the live loop, the first audio track, and the second audio track.
22 . The method of claim 16 wherein identifying a first audio track includes receiving an audible input via an audio interface, and converting the audio input into an audio track
23 . The method of claim 22 wherein converting the audio input includes dividing the audio track into one or more partitions.
24 . The method of claim 23 wherein converting the audio input further includes quantizing the one or more partitions with a predetermined beat.
25 . The method of claim 24 wherein converting the audio input further includes identifying a pitch of one or more sounds within each of the one or more partitions.
26 . The method of claim 25 where converting the audio input further includes shift a frequency of the first audio track based on one or more criteria.
27 . The method of claim 26 wherein converting the audio input further includes converting the first audio track into one or more sounds having a timbre associated with a musical instrument.
28 . The method of claim 27 further including storing each of the one or more partitions as a morphology having information identifying the onset, pitch, and duration of one or more sounds in the partition.